All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

饯别王十一南游

Seeing Off Wang Shiyi on His Journey South

刘长卿

Liu Changqing

望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾。
飞鸟没何处，青山空向人。
长江一帆远，落日五湖春。
谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋。

Gazing after you across the broad misty waters,
I wave farewell, my tears wetting my kerchief.
Where has the flying bird vanished to?
The green hills gaze in vain at the traveler.
A single sail drifts far up the Long River;
The setting sun shines over the Five Lakes in spring.
Who sees me on the river isle,
My longing sorrow facing the white duckweed?

Listen

Meaning

Seeing a friend off on his journey south, Liu Changqing watches the misty waters, waves until his tears soak his kerchief. The friend vanishes like a bird into the sky; the green hills seem to gaze at him in vain. A lone sail shrinks up the Yangtze into spring sunlight over the Five Lakes, and the poet is left on the river isle with a sorrow no one sees — facing the white duckweed of farewell.

望着你远去的烟水茫茫，挥手作别，泪湿衣巾。飞鸟没入何处？青山空自对着行人。长江上一叶孤帆远去，落日里五湖春色正浓。有谁看见那汀洲之上，有人满怀相思，愁对白蘋？

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] I gaze after you over the broad misty river, waving farewell, my tears wetting my kerchief; like a bird you have vanished, and the green hills look at me in vain. Your sail drifts far up the Yangtze into the spring sunset over the Five Lakes; who will see me standing on the isle, sorrowing before the white duckweed? [Imagery] Mist and water, a vanishing bird, empty hills, a lone sail, a setting sun, an isle with white duckweed — every image speaks of distance and remaining. [Structure] The poem follows the gaze: the parting (couplet one), the friend's disappearance (couplet two), the sail's shrinking distance (couplet three), and finally the poet himself, left behind (couplet four). [Theme] The poem's true subject is the one who stays: the farewell is measured not by the traveler's journey but by the watcher's remaining sorrow.

【白话串讲】刘长卿写《饯别王十一南游》：“望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾”——“飞鸟没何处，青山空向人”——“长江一帆远，落日五湖春”——“谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋”——他饯别王十一——长江一帆远。【意象与手法】 “望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾”写别时之景与情；“飞鸟没何处，青山空向人”写别后之怅望；“长江一帆远，落日五湖春”写友人远去之景；结以“谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋”以汀洲白蘋写相思之愁。以景写情、深婉绵长。【情感与主旨】刘长卿饯别友人王十一南游之作，写别时泪沾巾与别后怅望相思，是唐人送别诗中的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾”写别时之景；“长江一帆远，落日五湖春”写友人远去之景。

Background

Liu Changqing (c. 726–c. 786), courtesy name Wenfang, was a native of Hejian (modern Hebei) and one of the finest five-character poets of the mid-Tang — contemporaries called him the 'Great Wall of Five-Character Verse.' His official career was twice blighted by demotion, and farewells were a recurring fact of his life. 'Wang Shiyi' is a friend surnamed Wang, eleventh in seniority, setting out on a journey south toward the Jiangnan region — the Five Lakes of the lower Yangtze. Written in the mid-Tang, when Liu's own fortunes were at a low ebb, the poem belongs to the great tradition of Tang farewell poetry, but where High Tang farewells (Li Bai, Wang Wei) achieve breadth and optimism, Liu Changqing's is deeper in quiet sorrow — the farewell is seen entirely through the eyes of the one who stays behind.

《饯别王十一南游》为中唐诗人刘长卿所作五言律诗。王十一即王姓排行十一者，为刘长卿之友。此诗写饯别友人南游。诗中「望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾」写别时之景与情；「飞鸟没何处，青山空向人」写别后之怅望；「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」写友人沿长江南下、远去五湖之景；「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」写诗人伫立汀洲、相思之愁。刘长卿一生仕途多舛，两遭贬谪，与友人聚散无常，其送别诗多写得情真意挚。此诗于饯别友人南游之际，以烟水、飞鸟、青山、孤帆等景写送别之情，情致深婉而境界开阔，是中唐送别诗中的名篇，也是刘长卿「五言长城」风格的典型体现。此篇《饯别王十一南游》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's governing device is the gaze: it follows the friend's boat from the moment of parting to its disappearance, and then — the poem's originality — turns back to look at the looker. The first couplet sets the scene with 'misty waters broad' (the world dissolving into distance) and tears. The second couplet, 'where has the flying bird vanished to? The green hills gaze in vain at the traveler,' transfers even the landscape's gaze into the poem — the hills seem to watch, and their watching is 'in vain,' a word that quietly extends the poet's own futility. The third couplet, 'a single sail drifts far up the Long River; the setting sun shines over the Five Lakes in spring,' is the poem's breath of breadth: within a farewell poem it opens onto the whole river and the whole spring, and the friend's shrinking sail is set against the immense, bright south he is entering. The final couplet — 'who sees me on the river isle, my longing sorrow facing the white duckweed?' — ends with the poet alone on the isle, his sorrow witnessed by no one, facing the white duckweed of classical parting. The movement from the broadest scene to the loneliest figure is the poem's structural signature.

此诗艺术上以「以景写情、深婉绵长」见长。全诗八句，前四句写别时与别后之景，后四句写友人远去与相思之情。首联「望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾」写别时之景：望着你远去的烟水茫茫，挥手作别，泪湿衣巾，「烟水阔」写别时之境阔大苍茫，「泪沾巾」写别时之情的深挚。颔联「飞鸟没何处，青山空向人」写别后之怅望：飞鸟没入何处？青山空自对着行人，「飞鸟没何处」以飞鸟之没写友人去远、踪迹难寻，「青山空向人」以青山之空写别后之怅惘。颈联「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」写友人远去之景：长江上一叶孤帆远，落日里五湖春色浓，「一帆远」写友人远去之状，「五湖春」写其南游所至之春色。尾联「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」写相思之情：有谁看见那汀洲之上，有人满怀相思，愁对白蘋，「谁见」以设问写相思之无人知，「愁白蘋」以白蘋写愁思之深。全诗由别时而怅望、由怅望而望远、由望远而相思，以景写情，深婉绵长，是唐人送别诗中的名篇。

Allusions

'Five Lakes' (wu hu) usually means the lakes around the lower Yangtze (the Taihu group) and, by extension, the Jiangnan region; it also carries the classical association of Fan Li, the minister who retired and boated on the Five Lakes after helping Yue conquer Wu — so the south the friend enters is at once a real destination and a poetic land of retirement and wandering. 'White duckweed' (bai pin) is the plant of parting and longing: since Qu Yuan's 'Nine Songs,' poets gathered white duckweed on river islets as a gift to the departing, and Liu Changqing's line 'who sees me on the river isle, my longing sorrow facing the white duckweed' directly echoes the Southern Dynasties poet Liu Yun's 'gathering white duckweed on the islet, at sunset in Jiangnan's spring.' 'River isle' (ting zhou) is the conventional place of farewell. These allusions are fused so smoothly that the ending reads as pure feeling rather than citation.

诗中「五湖」「白蘋」「汀洲」等语，皆含典故与意象传统。「五湖」说法不一，或指太湖及其附近的湖泊，或泛指江南湖泊，后世诗文多以「五湖」写江南水乡与隐逸之地，范蠡泛舟五湖之典尤为著名，刘长卿「落日五湖春」写友人南游所至之江南春色。「白蘋」为水中植物，自屈原《九歌》以来，诗文中常以白蘋写离愁别恨，如柳恽「汀洲采白蘋，日落江南春」，后世以「白蘋洲」写相思别离之地。「汀洲」即水中小洲，亦常为送别相思之地。刘长卿「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」，化用柳恽「汀洲采白蘋」之句，以汀洲白蘋写相思之愁，不着痕迹，是善于熔铸典故意象以写离情的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Critics have especially admired the couplet 'a single sail drifts far up the Long River; the setting sun shines over the Five Lakes in spring' for writing a farewell without a particle of grief in the words — the boat is already far, the sun is setting in the bright south, and the breadth of the scene swallows the sorrow, making the final couplet's loneliness land with double force. The poem is often compared with Li Bai's 'Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling' ('the lone sail fades into the blue sky; only the Long River flows to the horizon') — both watch a sail vanish up the Yangtze — but Li Bai's watching ends in the river's infinity, while Liu Changqing's ends in the watcher himself, alone on the isle. That turn from scene to self is the mid-Tang deepening of the farewell poem.

这首《饯别王十一南游》，写的是饯别友人南游，情致深婉，境界开阔。首联「望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾」，写别时之景与情：望着你远去的方向，烟水茫茫；挥手作别，泪湿衣巾。「烟水阔」写别时之境，一片苍茫辽阔；「泪沾巾」写别时之情，深挚而不自禁。一景一情，起笔便动人。颔联「飞鸟没何处，青山空向人」，写别后之怅望：友人已去，如飞鸟没入天际，不知何处；唯有青山，空自对着怅望的行人。「飞鸟没何处」，写友人去远、踪迹难寻；「青山空向人」，写青山虽在、而友人已去，「空」字写尽别后的怅惘。颈联「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」，写友人远去之景：长江之上，一叶孤帆渐行渐远；落日之中，五湖春色正浓。一帆远，写友人南下之状；五湖春，写其南游所至之春色。这两句境界开阔，虽写别离，却无悲戚之态，反而写得明朗开阔，正是刘长卿送别诗「于深婉中见开阔」处。尾联「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」，转写相思之情：有谁看见那汀洲之上，有人满怀相思，愁对白蘋？「谁见」以设问写相思之无人知晓；「愁白蘋」以汀洲白蘋写愁思之深。化用柳恽「汀洲采白蘋」之句，以白蘋写相思，含蓄而深婉。全诗由别时而怅望、由怅望而望远、由望远而相思，以景写情，深婉绵长，正是中唐诗人写送别相思的典范，读之令人回味。

Prosody

Form Poem: five-character regulated verse (wulü), eight lines in four couplets五言律诗（近体，平起式）

Rhyme The poem rhymes on jin ('kerchief'), ren ('person'), chun ('spring'), and pin ('duckweed') — level-tone words of the zhen rhyme group (the eleventh pingshui group). Its long, drawn-out sounds carry the poem's mood of lingering, unresolvable sorrow.全诗押平声韵「巾」「人」「春」「蘋」，韵脚同属真文类（巾、人、春、蘋），一韵到底，韵部宽舒而音调悠长。五律以平韵谐畅为常，此诗「巾」「人」「春」「蘋」四韵音色绵长，正与送别相思的深婉情调相称；「蘋」字收束全篇，与「相思愁白蘋」之句相映，韵脚亦含愁思之意，声情与辞情相凑。

Tone pattern The poem observes the regulated rules: tonal alternation and exact parallelism in the middle couplets ('flying bird' answering 'green hills,' 'Long River' answering 'Five Lakes'). Its rhythm traces the gaze — beginning at the parting place, moving outward and upward, then contracting to the single figure on the isle — so that the verse's own widening and narrowing enacts the poem's meaning.句式上，首联「望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾」平起，以「阔」「巾」收句，写别时之景情，音节深婉；颔联「飞鸟没何处，青山空向人」以设问写别后怅望，音节空灵；颈联「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」对仗工整，「一帆」「五湖」相映，写远去之景，音节开阔；尾联「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」以「蘋」字平收，以设问作结，音节转舒，情调由开阔归于深婉。全诗平仄相间、音节随情起伏，读来如诗人伫立汀洲、目送孤帆之音，深婉而绵长。

Reading note This is one of Liu Changqing's most admired farewell poems and a model of the mid-Tang farewell manner: the High Tang breadth is preserved in the sail-and-sunset couplet, but the poem ends by turning inward to the watcher's solitude — the 'Great Wall of Five-Character Verse' showing his characteristic depth within perfect form. The 'who sees me' rhetorical question and the white-duckweed allusion fuse classical tradition and personal feeling so completely that the ending feels both impersonal and intimate.此诗为五言律诗，是中唐送别诗中的名篇，也是刘长卿「五言长城」风格的典型体现。全诗的艺术特色在于「以景写情、深婉绵长」：首联「望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾」写别时之景与情，以烟水之阔衬别情之重；颔联「飞鸟没何处，青山空向人」以鸟没山空写别后之怅望；颈联「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」写友人远去之景，境界开阔；尾联「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」以设问与白蘋写相思之愁，含蓄深婉。全诗由别时而怅望、由怅望而望远、由望远而相思，以景写情，层层递进。尤为动人者，是「长江一帆远，落日五湖春」一联，于别离之中写出一派开阔明朗之景，而「谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋」一结，化用柳恽之句，以汀洲白蘋写相思，含蓄而深婉，正是刘长卿送别诗「于深婉中见开阔」的典范，为历代选本所常收。

Line by line

望君烟水阔，挥手泪沾巾。

Gazing after you across the broad misty waters, I wave farewell, my tears wetting my kerchief.

望着你远去的方向，烟水茫茫；挥手作别，泪湿衣巾。

I watch you off over the misty, wide waters; waving, tears wet my kerchief.

首联写别时之景与情，起笔即见深情。「望君烟水阔」写望着你远去的方向，烟水茫茫，「望」字写伫立凝望之态，「烟水阔」写别时之境阔大苍茫，烟波浩渺，望之无际；「挥手泪沾巾」写挥手作别，泪湿衣巾，「挥手」写别时之动作，「泪沾巾」写别时之情的深挚，泪不能止。两句一写景之阔、一写情之深，以烟水之阔衬别情之重，情与景交融，一个伫立江边、目送友人、泪湿衣巾的形象宛然在目，为全诗定下了深婉的基调。

The opening couplet writes the scene and feeling of parting, deep affection at the start. 'I watch you off over the misty, wide waters' — the word 'watch' writing the standing gaze, 'misty, wide waters' the vast hazy waters at parting; 'waving, tears wet my kerchief' the gesture and the grief beyond control. One line the wide scene, one the deep feeling, the waters' vastness setting off the weight of parting.

飞鸟没何处，青山空向人。

Where has the flying bird vanished to? The green hills gaze in vain at the traveler.

飞鸟没入何处？青山空自对着行人。

Where has the flying bird vanished? The green hills face me in vain.

颔联写别后之怅望，是全诗最见情致处。「飞鸟没何处」写飞鸟没入天际，不知何处，「飞鸟」以鸟喻友人之远去，「没何处」写其踪迹难寻，正如友人南游，渐行渐远，不知所踪；「青山空向人」写青山空自对着怅望的行人，「青山」写眼前之景，「空向人」写青山虽在、而友人已去，「空」字写尽别后的怅惘与空虚。两句一写友人之远去、一写青山之空对，以鸟没山空写别后之怅望，景中含情，含蓄蕴藉，是「以景写情」的典范之笔。

This couplet writes the longing after the parting, the poem's most feeling brush. 'Where has the flying bird vanished?' — the bird as image of the friend going far, lost to sight; 'the green hills face me in vain' — the hills remain, but the friend is gone, the word 'in vain' writing the emptiness after parting. Through bird vanished and hills empty he writes the post-parting gaze, feeling hidden in scenery.

长江一帆远，落日五湖春。

A single sail drifts far up the Long River; the setting sun shines over the Five Lakes in spring.

长江上一叶孤帆渐行渐远，落日里五湖春色正浓。

On the long Yangzi, a single sail recedes; in the setting sun, the five lakes are spring.

颈联写友人远去之景，境界开阔。「长江一帆远」写长江之上，一叶孤帆渐行渐远，「一帆远」写友人乘帆南下、渐远渐没之状，一帆之「远」，见其离去之渐、相思之随之而远；「落日五湖春」写落日之中，五湖春色正浓，「五湖春」写其南游所至之江南春色，落日湖春，一片明丽。两句一写长江之远、一写五湖之春，一孤帆、一落日，于别离之中写出一派开阔明朗之景，虽写送别而无悲戚之态，正是刘长卿送别诗「于深婉中见开阔」处，也是「以景慰别」的妙笔。

This couplet writes the friend receding, the vision open. 'On the long Yangzi, a single sail recedes' — one lone sail going ever farther south; 'in the setting sun, the five lakes are spring' — the Jiangnan spring he travels toward, bright in the sunset. One the far river, one the spring lakes; within the parting he writes an open, bright scene, no grief's bitterness — Liu Changqing's gift for breadth within tenderness.

谁见汀洲上，相思愁白蘋。

Who sees me on the river isle, my longing sorrow facing the white duckweed?

有谁看见那汀洲之上，有人满怀相思，愁对白蘋？

Who has seen me on the sandbar, lovesick over the white duckweed?

尾联转写相思之情，是全诗情感落点。「谁见汀洲上」以设问写相思之无人知晓，「谁见」一问，写诗人伫立汀洲、满怀相思，而无人看见、无人知晓，相思之孤独尽在其中；「相思愁白蘋」写愁对白蘋，「白蘋」化用柳恽「汀洲采白蘋」之句，以汀洲白蘋写相思之愁，愁思随白蘋而生、绵长无尽。两句以设问起笔，以白蘋作结，把送别之后的相思之愁写得含蓄而深婉。诗人不直写相思之苦，而以此汀洲白蘋写之，情以景显，正是五律「以景结情」的典范之笔。

The closing couplet turns to the longing itself, the poem's emotional landing. 'Who has seen me on the sandbar?' asks the loneliness of his lovesickness, no one seeing, no one knowing; 'lovesick over the white duckweed' borrows the line of Liu Hui, the white duckweed of the sandbar nourishing an endless longing. He does not say the bitterness of longing directly, but writes it through the sandbar duckweed, feeling made visible in scenery, the model of a five-character regulated verse closing in scene.

Study

Word focus

望 'Gaze after': the verb that governs the whole poem: the poet stands and gazes until the boat vanishes, so that the farewell is measured not by the traveler's going but by the watcher's long, motionless looking. 「望」字写伫立凝望友人远去之态，是首联写别情的起点。「望君烟水阔」着一「望」，写诗人目送友人，凝望良久，直至烟水茫茫——这「望」字，既是写送别时的目送，亦是写别后不舍的回望，一个「望」字，写尽依依不舍之情，为全诗定下了深婉的基调，是起笔见情的点睛之词。「望」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

空 'In vain, emptily': the hills' gaze after the traveler is 'in vain'; the word transfers the poet's own helplessness to the landscape, and the emptiness of the watching fills the space the friend has left. 「空」字写青山空自对着行人，是颔联写别后怅惘的关键。「青山空向人」着一「空」，写青山虽在、而友人已去，山自含情而人不复见，别后的怅惘与空虚尽在「空」字之中。着一「空」字，以山之空对写人之失落，景中含情，含蓄蕴藉，是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。「空」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

远 'Far': one sail growing 'far' up the river: distance accumulating character by character, the friend's departure and the poet's longing stretching away together on the same water. 「远」字写友人乘帆远去之状，是颈联写别情的关目。「长江一帆远」着一「远」，写一叶孤帆渐行渐远、渐远渐没——一帆之「远」，既是写友人离去之渐，亦是写诗人目送之远、相思之随之而远。「远」字于平实中见深意，把空间之远与情思之远融于一字，是「以一字写尽别情」的妙笔。「远」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

愁 'Sorrow': named only in the last line, after six lines of scenery; the sorrow 'facing the white duckweed' is the poem's finally declared emotion — accumulated, unseen, and addressed to no one. 「愁」字写汀洲之上的相思之愁，是全诗情感的直接流露。「相思愁白蘋」着一「愁」，写愁对白蘋、愁思满怀，送别之后的相思之愁，至此点破；「愁白蘋」更以白蘋写愁思，愁思如白蘋之绵延、无尽无绝。着一「愁」字，把含蓄于景中的别情集中写出，是全诗由写景转写情的枢纽，也是尾联以景结情的点睛之笔。「愁」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。